Overview

In 1984 SYLVIA JENSEN was a heavy drinker having an affair with Norton, an atomic veteran and fellow activist in the nuclear disarmament movement. In 2019, at seventy-seven and with her activist days behind her, Sylvia is protecting her hard-won recovery and simple lifestyle until Norton's troubled son Corey draws her back into the fight. To save his life and those of countless others, she and her old friend investigative reporter J.B. Harrell must unravel a decades old mystery and face the truth of the nuclear age before it is too late.

Full Product Details

9781627202923

Table of Contents

Reviews

Only an experienced social worker with a heart for social justice could have written a thriller of this caliber. In a novel that challenges a radioactive core of secrecy, Dorothy Van Soest has deftly shaped a protagonist who balances integrity and idealism as she attempts to save lives and herself. -- Carol Masters, You Can't Do That! Marv Davidov, Non-Violent Revolutionary (2009), The Peace Terrorist (1994), Dear Descendent (2019). Some books entertain, some inform, some inspire. Nuclear Option does all three. This story weaves the lives of troubled, courageous, ordinary people who struggle to avenge and heal harms by challenging powerful corporate and government powers. Even more than most historical fiction, this is an exceptionally meaningful book for students, clubs, and study groups to discuss the timeless, universal question: why, what, and how are you willing to fight or die for? -- Beth Brunton, Earth Care not Warfare Nuclear Option captures so well, especially in sleuth Sylvia Jensen, the brilliant and passionate peace and justice activists I have known over the years who are driven by heart and conscience to create the world we want to see. Kudos to Van Soest for conveying, in a bite-size and very personalized form that we can take in, the difficult and scary information about the nuclear threat we need in order to save the world. -- Marybeth Gardam, Women's International League for Peace & Freedom U.S. Section Committee Chair, Iowa Women for Peace co-founder, Iowa PSR Few writers are more deft at intertwining mystery with social issues of urgent concern than Dorothy Van Soest. Nuclear Option, her latest novel, reunites that unlikely duo, Sylvia Jensen and J.B. Harrell, as they investigate how a lethal past, both personal and national, detonates into the present. With results that are explosive! -- Carol Mossman, Author, The Narrative Matrix, Politics and Narratives of Birth, Writing with a Vengeance This thrill-packed Sylvia Jensen mystery reminds us of the costs the world has paid and continues to pay for maintaining nuclear arsenals that threaten unimaginable horror. Dorothy Van Soest immerses us in the world of ordinary people who won't go quietly into oblivion. -- Charlie Cooper, Democracy and Justice Advocate, Baltimore, MD Nuclear Option shines a light on a little known history of when the U.S. government conducted nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands and exposed military troops to radiation for research on its effects on humans. Van Soest's novel follows the inter-generational family of an Atomic Veteran whose outrage at the results of his direct exposure leads to their persistence to hold the government accountable. Helping to guide the activism of father and son is the anti-nuclear activist Sylvia Jensen, who has her own struggles related to her involvement in the antinuclear movement. Nuclear Option is a love story and a thriller in its own right. Anti-war activists will be intrigued with the struggles within the antinuclear movement to find right strategies and the challenging ethical decision the heroine is compelled to make. The novel made me sad and angry and it also gave me hope in the courage and creativity of people confronting a historic injustice and the lessons they learned. Enjoyable and thought provoking; highly recommended. -- Dan Gilman, Past President, Seattle Veterans For Peace

"""Only an experienced social worker with a heart for social justice could have written a thriller of this caliber. In a novel that challenges a radioactive core of secrecy, Dorothy Van Soest has deftly shaped a protagonist who balances integrity and idealism as she attempts to save lives and herself."" -- Carol Masters, You Can't Do That! Marv Davidov, Non-Violent Revolutionary (2009), The Peace Terrorist (1994), Dear Descendent (2019). ""Some books entertain, some inform, some inspire. Nuclear Option does all three. This story weaves the lives of troubled, courageous, ordinary people who struggle to avenge and heal harms by challenging powerful corporate and government powers. Even more than most historical fiction, this is an exceptionally meaningful book for students, clubs, and study groups to discuss the timeless, universal question: why, what, and how are you willing to fight or die for?"" -- Beth Brunton, Earth Care not Warfare ""Nuclear Option captures so well, especially in sleuth Sylvia Jensen, the brilliant and passionate peace and justice activists I have known over the years who are driven by heart and conscience to create the world we want to see. Kudos to Van Soest for conveying, in a bite-size and very personalized form that we can take in, the difficult and scary information about the nuclear threat we need in order to save the world."" -- Marybeth Gardam, Women's International League for Peace & Freedom U.S. Section Committee Chair, Iowa Women for Peace co-founder, Iowa PSR ""Few writers are more deft at intertwining mystery with social issues of urgent concern than Dorothy Van Soest. Nuclear Option, her latest novel, reunites that unlikely duo, Sylvia Jensen and J.B. Harrell, as they investigate how a lethal past, both personal and national, detonates into the present. With results that are explosive!"" -- Carol Mossman, Author, The Narrative Matrix, Politics and Narratives of Birth, Writing with a Vengeance ""This thrill-packed Sylvia Jensen mystery reminds us of the costs the world has paid and continues to pay for maintaining nuclear arsenals that threaten unimaginable horror. Dorothy Van Soest immerses us in the world of ordinary people who won't go quietly into oblivion."" -- Charlie Cooper, Democracy and Justice Advocate, Baltimore, MD ""Nuclear Option shines a light on a little known history of when the U.S. government conducted nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands and exposed military troops to radiation for research on its effects on humans. Van Soest's novel follows the inter-generational family of an Atomic Veteran whose outrage at the results of his direct exposure leads to their persistence to hold the government accountable. Helping to guide the activism of father and son is the anti-nuclear activist Sylvia Jensen, who has her own struggles related to her involvement in the antinuclear movement. Nuclear Option is a love story and a thriller in its own right. Anti-war activists will be intrigued with the struggles within the antinuclear movement to find right strategies and the challenging ethical decision the heroine is compelled to make. The novel made me sad and angry and it also gave me hope in the courage and creativity of people confronting a historic injustice and the lessons they learned. Enjoyable and thought provoking; highly recommended."" -- Dan Gilman, Past President, Seattle Veterans For Peace"

Author Information

Novelist Dorothy Van Soest, professor emerita and former dean at the University of Washington, holds a B.A. in English Literature and a Masters and Ph.D. in Social Work. Nuclear Option, her third Sylvia Jensen mystery, is grounded in her activism in the nuclear disarmament movement in the 1980s and her concerns about the increased risks of nuclear war in the present. Van Soest has twelve books published and over fifty journal articles, essays and book chapters. Three previous novels, Just Mercy (2014), At the Center (2015) and Death, Unchartered (2018) were published by Apprentice House. www.dorothyvansoest.com

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available